THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Koliyakode N Narayanan Nair, 93, died at a private hospital here on Wednesday due to age-related ailments. He was the founder and director of Kerala Law Academy (KLA ). The funeral was held on Thursday. Condoling the death, Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan recalled the services of Narayanan Nair who had created a milestone of his own in the state’s legal studies sector as a law professor and also as a legal luminary. Pinarayi remembered that throughout his life, Narayanan Nair relentlessly worked hard to improve legal studies in the state and also made it popular.
“Narayanan Nair actively intervened in social issues. His demise is a huge loss to the state’s legal studies sector. He was not only a dear friend of mine, but also his death is a personal loss for me,” said Pinarayi. Narayanan Nair is survived by three children, Raj Narayanan, Lakshmi Nair (cookery expert and former principal, KLA ) and Nagaraj Narayanan (senior lawyer, Kerala High Court). His wife, Ponnamma, a former Indian Audit and Accounts Service official had predeceased him.
Former Vamanapuram MLA and Cooperative Bank State president Koliyakode Krishnan Nair is his brother. Narayanan Nair took his BL degree from Government Law College, Ernakulam, in 1953 and LL M and PhD in Law from the University of Kerala. In fact, he is the first PhD holder in law from the University of Kerala. He holds the record for being the longest serving syndicate member as well as senate member of the University of Kerala in the history of the university. Narayanan Nair played a key role in establishing National University of Advanced Legal Studies and Research (NUAL S), Kochi.
He started his teaching career in Government Law College, Thiruvananthapuram, where his students included former judges of Kerala High Court like C S Rajan and D Sreedevi. Other leaders who have condoled the death of Narayanan Nair include CPM politburo member Kodiyer i Balakrishnan and CPI state secretary Kanam Rajendran. Kodiyeri recalled that Narayanan Nair had always been a strong fellow traveller of the CPM.
In his condolence message, Kanam Rajendran remembered him as ‘Samadhanam Narayanan Nair’ for setting up a peace organisation along with Sharmaji, former secretary of E M S Namboodiripad. He also said that Narayanan Nair’s demise is expected to create a huge void in the educational milieu of the state.